Excuse me? Didn’t ECB start QE – in world of madness? Hard even to see change in ECB balance sheet. Japan is just not real, for that matter nothing is!

US High Yield vs. S&P 500

Clearly the credit cycle has peaked.

LQD – US Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

CRY – Core Commodity Index

Compare commodities to investment grade bonds.

Fed Hike Indicator

When the FED hikes it’s a margin call. There is no basis in their mandate to do hike, but their need to normalize will have data support over summer as CESI (Citi Surprise Index will mean revert).

I have been traveling like a mad man: France, UK, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Kazakhstan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Slovenia, Hungary, Czech and Netherlands. And next few weeks: London (CNBC guest hosting Friday), Switzerland, China and Japan. I have plenty to report.

Upcoming Teasers

CEE is the canary in the coal mine for QE

Mining is underowned and underpriced

Inflation is coming back

Silk Road is for real

Autocratic government in for hard time across Europe

Unfortunately still no reforms anywhere, but great clients, risk takers and media

Safe travels
Steen

Mish Comments

When Steen says there is no basis for a US rate hike, he is talking from the Fed perspective of CPI inflation.

He has commented before that the Fed may hike simply to prick asset bubbles and/or to simply do what they keep saying they will do.

I have no target for the price of gold. Rather, like Steen, I believe it is an unloved asset likely to outperform.

Finally, I have my doubts that interest rates will hit a new low in 2016, but if they do, panic will be in the air over crashing equities or asset prices in general.